So long Alkhudairy and thanks for all the quotes

Journalists highlighting someone’s . . . ill-advised quotes often feels a bit counterproductive, given that one of our biggest problems is that people increasingly talk like automatons to the press.

And let’s face it, we’ve all stepped in it occasionally. But few have inadvertently killed a 167-year old global banking giant in the process.

MainFT has just reported that Saudi National Bank chair Ammar Alkhudairy has resigned for “personal reasons” — and definitely unrelated to his comments on how the SNB would “absolutely not” increase its stake in Credit Suisse helped finally kill the bank off.

We actually have some sympathy with Alkhudairy and his inadvertent role in the death of CS. He was only saying that the SNB could not increase its stake above 10 per cent for a host of practical and regulatory reasons. He just happened to say it in an awkwardly blunt way in the middle of rampant fears around Credit Suisse.

But for your Monday enjoyment, here are some of the juicier quotes Alkhudairy gave our colleague Samer Al-Atrush in December, after the SNB had invested $1.5bn in Credit Suisse.

“We write cheques of that size frequently, I can assure you. This is just another cheque of that size.”

“We looked at the downside, we believe it is limited.”

“It’s a 160-year-old brand, so how far below 30 cents on the dollar on book is it going to go?”

“When was the last time the system allowed for such a venerable global brand to simply keel over? That’s what it’s going to take for us to lose significant money.”